OwlClan Challenge: Chasing Feathers
by Leafstar16
Summary: My first OwlClan challenge! Please review! Pluff is an ordinary kittypet, about four moons old, and living with his Housefolk. But he has a wildcat friend from RiverClan named Reedpaw. One day, Reedpaw tries to convince Pluff to join him in RiverClan. At first, Pluff thinks NEVER! But now, he's having second thoughts. One-shot.


**AN: This is my first challenge for OwlClan! So please, no flames, and please review. It only takes a minute, and I'd really appreciate it :3**

* * *

I gazed out the window. It was raining. The falling rain made me think of a river in the sky, reminding me of RiverClan, and my best friend, Reedpaw. In fact, speaking of RiverClan, the rains reminded me of the night when he asked me an important question. In fact…

_I remember the night clearly, as if it had been just yesterday that it had happed. My best friend, Reedpaw, and I were sitting nearby RiverClan's border. We snuck out like this all the time. I'm only four moons old, and a house cat, but that didn't matter. We were, and still are, the best of friends!_

"_Hey, Pluff," Reedpaw had begun._

"_What is it?" I had asked._

"_You know, you're almost old enough to become an apprentice in RiverClan. You could come with me. Then we'd never have to be apart." I was shocked. This was the last question that I had expected from him._

"_I'm sorry, Reedpaw, but I don't think I can just yet." I had told him. He looked disappointed. I didn't want to let him down like that, so I threw him a lifeline, "You know, I still have two moons to decide. And when I do, you'll be the first to know, okay?"_

"_Okay." He meowed. Then he got up. "I've got to go; I don't want Troutstar cracking down on me again for yawning in battle training practice." He joked, "I'll see you later." Reedpaw vanished into RiverClan's territory. With a sigh, I got up as well, and left the wilds behind and returned to my house._

I gazed out the window, lost in thought until my sister, Twinkle, padded into the room and leaped onto the couch by the window, where I was lying down, even though there were two others in the room. This knocked me off the couch and onto the floor.

"Hey!" I spat. "There are three couches!"

"Well, too bad. I wanted that one. Thanks for warming it up for me." Twinkle purred, and I stalked off, annoyed. Twinkle is so…so self-absorbed, and pretty much a brat. She only thinks about herself, and she thinks that the world revolves around herself, and only herself. I pad over into the Living Room, where Twinkle and I have our beds, lined with a blanket and two soft, fluffy pillows. It's been three sun-rises since Reedpaw asked me to join RiverClan with him. At first, my first and only thought was never, but now…now that I think about it, Clan life with Reedpaw seems wonderful, compared to sharing the house with the brat, Twinkle. I curl up into my bed and fall asleep.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It's the next day. I feel like a walk outside (since Twinkle is sprawled out on the couch again) and I stop for a moment to let the sunshine soak into my fur.  
"Hey, Pluff!" My housecat best friend, Coal, a dark gray tom with dark grayish green eyes, greets me from on top of his fence, next door.

"Hi!" I reply, leaping up onto the fence to sit down with him. On an impulse, I tell him my predicament with Reedpaw.

"He wants you to _what?! _No way, Pluff! You'd miss your housefolk, your bed and pillows, the warmth of the fire in the wintertime…and besides, if you left, then I'd be alone with _Twinkle_." I purred; Twinkle was so _annoying_. "If you went to his lot in the forest, well, you'd be _wet_ all the time, always fighting over food, and sleeping outside in the snows in wintertime, and getting sick, or maybe being killed by other wildcats. Not. Fun." Coal declared.

"Well, Reedpaw told me that eating fish makes his fur thick and water just slides right off it." I told him.

"Fish!" Coal scoffed. "What's wrong with treats, or catnip to play with? Much better than fish, I'll say." I shrug.

"I dunno. I've never had fish, to be honest." I admitted.

"Huh." Was all Coal told me. We sat there for a while, chatting. It felt good to talk with him. But after a while, I had to go back home.

"See you," I called, and then I returned home and curled up in my bed, thinking. I could either stay here, or become a Clan cat. I made a mental list of good things and bad things for both choices.

+ Clan cat: Be with Reedpaw, Not go to the vet, Live in the wild, free, Can come and go as I want – no begging Housefolk to let me outside, No Twinkle! Eat fish and land prey, Swim, Maybe even become leader of RiverClan and have _nine lives!_

- Clan cat: Be outside in the cold, Fight for food, Be attacked by other Clans, Be killed in battle, or by illness, "Kittypet" roots, Housefolk may try to find me, Fish, Swim, Maybe kicked out for being a kittypet

+ House cat: Be with Coal, Be warm, Always have food, Don't have to worry about living with my Housefolk or "kittypet" roots, Eat cream! And other various Housefolk treats

- House cat: Be with _Twinkle,_Never know the wild,Never see Reedpaw,Never know really what life as a Clan cat would be like,Have to put up with Twinkle _forever, _might move away from Coal and Reedpaw. Then I'd be alone with_ Twinkle._

Thing is, whenever I look at the forest, part of me – well, most of me – wants to go there. To be outside, in the wild, hunting with Reedpaw. Free. And yet…another part of me doesn't want to leave the comforts of my Housefolk, or Coal. If I left, what would I tell him? That he'd have to be alone with Twinkle? I fell asleep, still unsure of my choice, and knowing that time was running out.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Hey, Pluff! C'mere!" Coal called. I joined him and a new cat on the fence.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"This is Rose. She's just moved into the neighborhood." Coal meowed. Rose was a pale ginger tabby she-cat with ginger stripes, green eyes, and a dark green collar with a round golden tag.

"Hello." I meowed. Rose nodded shyly. I noticed that her tail was twined with Coal's. Ooh_, Coal's found himself a she-cat friend_. I thought. And then it hit me – if Coal and Rose were together, then Coal wouldn't be alone with Twinkle anymore. I could go with Reedpaw! I realized that I'd always wanted the wilds – but I just hadn't realized it. There was just one thing that I had to ask Coal before I finalized my choice.

"How far away is Rose?" I asked.

"Just across the street." He replied.

"I have something to tell you." I began.

"What?" He asked, curious now.

"I'm leaving to go live in the wild with Reedpaw." I admitted.

"_What?!"_ Coal looked hurt. "You're leaving me?"

"Now that Rose is here, you won't be alone anymore, and you won't have to be alone with _Twinkle_, either." I told him. "This is my decision, and this is what I want to do."

"Okay." Coal meowed. "Could you visit?"

"Probably, but not very often." I said. "I'd try, though."

"Okay, that's about as good as I can get, I guess." Coal meowed. "Good luck with Reedpaw, okay?"

"Alright, but I don't have to go right now." I meowed, purring. "We can spend the day together, and then at night I'll leave for RiverClan." I suggested, and Coal's eyes brightened. I jumped off the fence with Coal and Rose right behind me, and then we padded off to enjoy my last day as a housecat together.

It was just after sunset. I waited in our spot for Reedpaw to show up. Part of me was worried. What if I had waited too long? What if Reedpaw wasn't going to come?

"Pluff!" Reedpaw meowed excitedly. "You came!"

"Of course I did." I meowed.

"Follow me." Reedpaw told me, and I followed him through the reeds and stopped at the river. "Just copy what I do," Reedpaw meowed, and I did. We climbed up the ridge, and entered into the RiverClan camp. I knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but I would make it.

"Reedpaw, who is this?" A tom asked.

"Troutstar, this is Pluff, my friend." Reedpaw meowed. "He's almost six moons, and would like to become an apprentice of RiverClan."

"Does he know what we expect from him if he is to become part of our Clan?" Troutstar asked.

"Yes, I do. I am ready." I told him.

"Then there is nothing else to do. RiverClan, gather!" Troutstar called, and the rest of the Clan gathered. RiverClan was so huge! "We have a cat who would like to join our Clan," Troutstar began. "I have decided that RiverClan will accept this tom as an apprentice, and treat him as if he were wild-born." Troutstar paused to glare at the entire Clan. "If I even so much as _hear_ about anyone mistreating him, I will personally beat the fluff out of them. Pluff, come forward." I did. Reedpaw had explained the apprentice ceremony to me – that had led up to him asking me to join RiverClan with him. "From now on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Featherpaw. Mistydawn will be your mentor." Mistydawn was a silver-blue she-cat with pale brown eyes, who also turned out to be very nice. As we touched noses, she whispered to me,

"I am glad to be your mentor. I will teach you everything I know, and then you will be a warrior that all the Clans will think twice about attacking." I nodded, and then rejoined Reedpaw, who was purring.

"Glad you could make it, Featherpaw." He told me, calling me by my new name. And you know what? I was glad I came. My old life as a housecat, living with Housefolk and in comfort, was over, and I was starting a new one now. One that I never would have been able to appreciate before.

"You know what, Reedpaw? I'm glad I came." I meowed, and then my life as a RiverClan cat truly began.


End file.
